Artist or Band Name
Nathan Coutts
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As the director shouts, "Action," and the lights fade to black, Nathan Coutts' debut album 'The Ordinary Instant' begins like the opening scene of a film. Across 10 tracks, the Melbourne/Naarm artist challenges the album's title with a collection of complex, slow-burning moments. Blending alternative folk, soul and R&B into a moody series of confessionals, 'The Ordinary Instant', out Friday, July 31, tells the story of two lovers and their paths, pays homage to a car, and bares Coutts' soul to the world.
Singer-songwriter, producer, engineer and guitarist Nathan Coutts showcases the full breadth of his artistry on his debut album. Coming off the back of his three album-associate single releases, ‘The Ordinary Instant’ deepens Coutts’ innate ability to sculpt a deep and connective world within minimal and raw production value, adding a timelessness to his work.
‘The Ordinary Instant’ is an album born of the emotional brevity of Nathan Coutts’ romantic experiences following a cross-country road trip through the US, and explores the all-consuming weight of honesty and contemplation. A cinematically constructed look into the complex lives of others, ‘The Ordinary Instant’ is 10 emotionally fragmented songs stitched together by a dissonant throughline of vices and emotional virtues.
Taking place in Broadway, Nashville, Coutts’ first single and album opener ‘Outside Your Window’ sets the tone for ‘The Ordinary Instant’ with blissful guitar tones and romantic allusions, painting a picture of the two lovers which the story unfolds around. Opposingly, ‘Outside Your Window’ rolls into ‘Movie Star’, the track that introduces the album’s moody quality, and showcases the ever-present tension throughout ‘The Ordinary Instant’ whilst reinforcing the album’s vintage production quality.
Stylised by harmonious vocals and sultry soul beats, Coutts’ experience in R&B/soul shines through in ‘vices’, a track battling with the concept of the self and what remains of you after things fall apart. As the album settles into its extensive storytelling sensibilities, Coutts sings to ‘Winnie’, a song that Coutts states is “an ode to the car that carried them through miles and miles.” Reintroducing the album's moments of R&B, ‘Winnie’ offers a lighter, brighter tonality to the album whilst keeping strong to the album's emotional and ponderous throughline.
As the album unfolds into diary entries from the faintest of hearts, ‘Goodbye July’ gears minute emo qualities, starting as a low-fi and gravelly raw guitar and vocal recording, slowly falling into a piece of spoken word poetry that nods to moments within the album past and impending, further amplifying Coutts' poetic notions.
‘The Ordinary Instant’s honesty peaks in ‘On The Mountain’, a track that is “nature’s ask of the narrator: to hold still,” states Coutts. Sincerely candid in capturing the album’s encompassing themes through acoustic guitar hums and the soft lulls of the piano, ‘On The Mountain’ is truly resonant of Nathan Coutts thoughts and feelings and can be seen as the album’s thematic peak.
Cinematic yet humble, ‘The Ordinary Instant’ is structured on honesty and vulnerability. Told through the lens of change and self-discovery, the result of Nathan Coutts’ work is an album that is both inviting and solemn and allows for a reflective and invigorating listening experience.
‘The Ordinary Instant’ is out Friday, July 31.
